Improved rock-channelling machine



Za/Wwf? OOOOOO OOOOOOOOOO OOOOOO OOOOOOOOO OOO) OOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO IIIIIIII WRITERS. FHOTQLITNOGHAPNER, WASHINGTON. D4 C,

til tant @sind AE. G. LAMSON, OF WINDSOR, VERMONT.

Letters Patent No. 89,264, dated April 20, 1869.

IMPROVE!) ROCK-CHANNELLIN- MACHINE.

To 'all ywho'nt 'it may concern Be it known that I, E. G. LAMsoN, of Windsor, in the county of Windsor, and iu the State of Vermont,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stone-Channelling and Growing-Machines; and do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and e'xact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to theletters of reference .marked thereon, making apart of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in so constructing a stone-channelling and grooving-machine that one engine, and one line of shafting, may be made to operate one or both of two sets of cut-ting-instruments, placed one on each side of the machine, and the subordinate devices thereto.

In order to enable others skilled in the art to which my invention appertains, to make and use thesame, l will vnow proceed to describe its construction and operation referring to the annexed drawings in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation, and

Figure 2, a front elevation of my machine.

Figure 3 is a side view of the connecting-bar between the drill-holders, and

Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical section of the main or driving-shaft.

A represents a steam-boiler and hre-box, the rear end of which is provided with an axle, B, having at its ends the wheels C, while the forward end of the boiler rests on a truck, D, resting on wheels E E, placed on the shaft F.

At the front endof the truckD is a cast standard G, with a circularhole through which the front end of the boiler is inserted, the boiler thus resting on the four wheels G G and E E, which move on the track H.

To the eastingG is attached the entire cutting-machinery, and I thus dispense with the expense ofa frame running back, the boiler being used for or in place of a frame, which I consider a very important part of my invention.

0n top of the boiler A is placed the engine J, the piston-rod of which is, by a pitman, I, connected with the crank, or driving-shaft L, at and above the front end of the boiler, said crank-shaft having four bearings in standards K K, extending upward from the casting G.

At each end ofthe crank-shaft L is a crank, or flan ge M, so as to attach wrist-pins, to carry cutters on each side of the machine, and said'crank-shait also serves to feed the machine along on the track, and to run a force-pump when the cutting-mechanism is standing still, as will be hereinafter fully set forth.

The main shaft L is made in three pieces, as follows: One centre-part a, vand two end-pieces b b.

On the central part a, on each side of the crank where the pit-man I is attached, is a large thee-plate, c, made fast to the ends of said central part, and serving the purpose of balance-wheels, and as anges, for

the purpose of holding a bolt, d, which. clutches into balance-wheels e e, attached to the inner ends of the side-portions b b of the shaft.

To the outer ends of said side or end parts of the shaft, the .cranks M M, with their wrist-pins, are ateach side of thc machine.

The ends of the central portion a have holes or recesses bored in them, fbrming bearings for' the inner ends of the two outside or end parts?) b, as seen in iig. 4. By this arrangement it will be readily understood that both the cutti11g-mechanisms, on both sides, may be kept in operation at the same time, or either one or the other can be stopped, or run at pleasure.

R R represent the standard-guides secured in some suitable manner a suiiicient dist-ance from the edges of the casting G, and in the space thus left between the operates the cutting-instruments is placed.

rlhis mechanism is constructed as follows:

To the outside cranks M l\[, or to pitmen N N, connected with tl1e`same,I attach abow-spring, 0, to which the clamp P, which holds and carries the cutters, is secured.

Instead of a bow-spring, I may use a spiral spring, rubber or air-spring, or cushion, or, in fact, any flexible or yieldinginstrument introduced between the cra-nk and clamp, for the purpose of taking the jar from the other parts of the machine, and also in assisting to give a greater force to the blow upon the rock.

When the gang of cutters or drills is lifted, such -an elastic or flexible mechanism takes off the sudden strain from the crank-shaft as it lifts the drill` easily, or, in other words, it takes on the load gradually, and as the iiexible or elastic bow-spring is accumulative in its action and yielding, so much so that when the cutters or drills, as is sometimes thecase, get stuck in the channel or groove that they cannot be lifted, the yielding of thetwo arms of the bow-spring, or the twoarms with a spring between the two, the machine maykeep on running, and the crank or wrist-pin turn entirely around wit-hout breaking any part of the machine.

rIhe bow-spring, or flexible instrument, further ena is run thc harder and greater the blow upon the rock, and it does twice as much execution as when a machine is run, and only gets the heft of the drills and clamp upon the rock.

Through the intervention oi a bow-spring, or any accumulative and iexible instrument, I am enabled to throw the cutters with great force at a horizontal or ,at any desiredanglc, the effect of the spring resembling that of th-e bow and arrow.

-The experiments up to the time of the introduction of the bow-spring between the driving or crank-shaft and the drill-holder, never succeeded in getting much power beyond the weight of gravitation. When turned tached, to operate one set of cutting-instruments on v' standard-guides and the casting, the mechanism which bles mc to run the machine much faster, and thefaster it' at an angle from a perpendicular, the power was lost, except the drill be driven by steam or compressed air, and in the cases where the drill has been attached to the piston-rod of the engine, the machinery will soon become out of order from the jarrinff.

The lbow-spring 0 is attached to the links f j, and these links to the clamp, or drill-holder l), which slides freely on the standard-guides lt R.

rlhe drills S S are attached to the clamps by means of a self-tightening clamp, or a clamp made to hold any kind of aV drill in the usual manner.

The lower, or foot-clamp l), to which the engine is connected, as above described, is connected with the upper or head clamp P, by means of the connectingear T. l

The cutters S S are firmly secured in the lower clamp P, and their upper ends inserted in a channel or socket in the upper clamp P.

If one o1' more of the cutters should become smaller than the other, small blocks may be inserted -at the top of such cutters lin saidA socket, thus rendering the points of the cutters even or otherwise.

rlhe connecting-.bar 'l is inserted through a groove in the lower clamp P, immediately outside of the eutters, and has a projection, g, above and below said clamp, as seen in fig. 3. The upper end of said bar passes through a groove in the upper clamp P', and is held above said clamp by a pin passed through the same. By this means it will be seen I can readily lower the drills when the channel is deepened.

Upon the driving-shaft L is an eccentric h, which operates directly by a rod, t, upon a lever, m, to which lever is a double-acting pawl, n, connected to give a forward and backward motion to the machine at pleasthat the eccentric 71, on the driving-shaft, m'ay be set in such a manner, in connection with the wrist-pins or cranks, so as to feed the machine along on the track at the time Ywhen the cutters .are coming up after a blow has been struck, or while the cutters are on the way down, in other words, it can he timed at pleasure.

lt also very frequently happens that the machine, in

its operation, comes in contact with permanent obstacles, and it is stopped in its forward movement, but when the friction feed is used,.the clutch or wheels may keep on turning, and the driving-machinery is allowed to be in motion, and not break, or otherwise damage the machinery, while on the other hand, if the machine were fed along on the track by a rack and pinion, or other positive feed, something would besure to give way if there were sufficient power in the engine.

The feeding-mechanism is operated by a lever, X, so that it can be made to feed either backward or forward, or not at all, as may be desired.

The crank-shaft L is further,4 by some suitable means,

connected with a forcc-pump Y, to supply the boiler with water.

Having thus fully described my invention,

lVhat I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A stoue-grooving or channelling-machine, which is moved upon a track, provided with a series of reciprocating cutters upoi.- each side of the propellingmechanism when the cutters are operated by means of a crank-shaft, which is formed in sections, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. In a stone-channellingl or growing-machine, which is moved upon a track, and provided with reciprocating cutters, which operate on each side of the track, amechauism which enables the operation of the cutters by one engine on either side of the track, or on both sides of the track at one time, substantially as set forth.

3. The notched lever, or bar X, connected to a rockshaft under the boiler, which is attached to the feedmechanism, to vcause the backward or forward operaion of the machine, by the means substantially as set orth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing, I have hereunto set my hand, this thday of April, 1869.

E. G. LAMSON.

Witnesses:

EDM. F. BROWN, LEOPOLD Evnm. 

